Family in town...

This is my back yard. (Taken by Seth, my budding photographer.)

And this is my in-laws new house.

And this is the distance between the two.

1.33 miles.

As of a few weeks ago, we now have family in town. My father-in-law retired, and they moved here from the Norfolk area. I've been hesitant to say much about this, but I figured I should come clean. See, we haven't lived near family since before Seth was born. It's been 7 years of juggling babysitting with friends, making do when I'm sick and David is in trial, and making the best of it. 

Frankly, that's what most of our friends do. So I honestly feel guilty at my abundance of riches. I suspect that many of you are throwing a shoe at your computer monitors right now and gnashing your teeth in my direction. And I wouldn't blame you a bit. That's probably what I would be doing. "She has great parents only an hour and a half away and NOW she has in laws who love to babysit less than 2 miles away? A pox upon her!" 

Yesterday, I woke up at 4:00 a.m. and knew that I was sick and would have to go to the doctor in the morning. I also knew that David was leaving for trial, and what that means is that he can't do a single thing for me because he'll get a contempt of court citation if he does. I remembered the time in the middle of a local trial when he came home for one evening when I was stuck in the bathroom for a couple of hours, and it was the only evening he could've possibly done anything like that during two weeks. God got us all through, but I lay on the bed that night and cried because I'd have to figure out a way to go on by myself the next day. 

But yesterday morning, I called my in laws. They dropped all their plans and came over to watch my boys so I could go to the doctor. And I was grateful because I have more backup now. 

I could say more about all the wonderful ways they've helped out in the short time they've been here, but once again, shoes at computer monitors, so I won't. So that's my story.